Seniors are among the most vulnerable as scammers often target them because they may have more assets or regular income and because they’re often more trusting than other age groups, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns.
Among the myriad coronavirus-related
schemes circulating: sending queries on stimulus checks in an attempt to
pry financial information from vulnerable targets; offering unproven
coronavirus test kits; and setting up bogus charities.
Social Security Scams
The Social Security Administration recently warned about fraudulent letters threatening beneficiaries that their payments would be suspended or discontinued due to coronavirus-related office closures unless they called a phone number referenced in the letter. Scammers could then encourage those who called in to provide personal information or payment via retail gift cards, wire transfers, internet currency, or cash to maintain their benefits, the administration warned.The agency said it won’t suspend or discontinue benefits due to the pandemic. Anyone who receives any communication about an alleged problem with their Social Security number, account, or payments that they believe to be suspicious should hang up or not respond, it advises.
Beneficiaries shouldn’t trust their caller ID as scam calls may show up on caller ID as the Social Security Administration, the FTC warns.
The agency says to report Social Security scams online.
Stimulus Scams
The Internal Revenue Service is warning of scams to intercept the economic-impact payments that have been mailed to taxpayers. Taxpayers will likely encounter official-looking web pages or social media-based communications or receive phishing email, text messages, or other communications that request sensitive personal information or payments in order to receive an economic-impact payment, the agency warns. Taxpayers shouldn’t follow any embedded links or open any attached files, it says.Scammers may offer to help seniors get their stimulus check if they first verify their Social Security or bank routing number, says Colleen Tressler, a consumer education specialist with the FTC. They may also try to get you to sign your check over to them or they may send you a bogus check that requires you to verify it online or by calling a number.
No one from the IRS will reach out by telephone, email, or in person asking for information to complete economic-impact payments, the agency says.
The Better Business Bureau offers more information on coronavirus-related scams that target economic-impact checks on its website. The Treasury Department also has websites for reporting IRS-related coronavirus scams and scams specifically targeting economic-impact payments.
Imposters are also trying to take advantage of the growing anxieties around the pandemic to tap into seniors’ Medicare benefits. Common themes among Medicare scams are unsolicited phone calls to beneficiaries offering items and services related to coronavirus, such as Covid-19 testing and protective equipment, with no intent of delivery, according to a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The scams are designed to obtain Medicare beneficiary numbers to enable fraudsters to submit false claims for unrelated, unnecessary, or never-performed testing or services, as well as to steal the beneficiary’s identity.
Beneficiaries should share their Medicare number only with
their doctor, pharmacist, hospital, health insurer, or other trusted
health-care provider. Those who receive a call from someone claiming to
represent Medicare, asking for their Medicare number or other personal
information should hang up, the spokesman says. If a beneficiary needs
to be tested for Covid-19, he or she should call his or her health-care
provider directly.
Beneficiaries should also monitor their quarterly Medicare summary notice for any services for which they were billed but which they didn’t receive or request.
Those who suspect Medicare fraud can report it by calling Medicare’s toll-free customer service center at 1-800-633-4227
Beneficiaries should also monitor their quarterly Medicare summary notice for any services for which they were billed but which they didn’t receive or request.
Those who suspect Medicare fraud can report it by calling Medicare’s toll-free customer service center at 1-800-633-4227
The novel coronavirus has the world firmly in its grip. Images from northern Italy, Madrid, and New York City have shown that the threat of the virus should not be underestimated. Tens of thousands of people have died because of it. Most countries now face a dilemma: If drastic shutdowns continue, serious economic and social problems will arise, but going back to normal life is very dangerous and will risk tens of thousands of additional deaths. The final return to normalcy will be possible only if there is a vaccine or an effective medicine against Covid-19.
The European Union is on the front line of developing this vaccine. Some companies and laboratories that cooperate with experts from other parts of the world are already conducting human clinical trials. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen led a worldwide virtual summit on cooperation in this area.
While public and private stakeholders from all over the world—including Israel, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United States.
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